DESCRIPTION: This application is based on our firm commitment to establish an integrated city-wide postdoctoral training program in the pathogenesis of alcoholic liver and pancreatic diseases. The newly NIAAA-funded USC-UCLA Research Center for Alcoholic Liver and Pancreatic Diseases serves as a core for this training program. The Center's main theme is, "Elucidation of the Mechanisms by Which Alcohol Primes and Sensitizes the Liver and Pancreas for Injury." The Center investigators are unified by the philosophy that the pursuit of this theme is a critical prerequisite for better understanding of an individual's predisposition to the diseases as well as development of efficacious preventive and therapeutic modalities. The Center bestows a unique and excellent environment for comprehensive postdoctoral training in this pivotal area of biomedical research because it offers: 1) the established, distinct, and complementary expertise of the Center investigators; 2) the Center's existing graduate/postgraduate educational mechanisms; 3) active cross-interactions among the investigators and with other Centers of Excellence; and 4) close association with premier academic and graduate programs at USC and UCLA. Our goal is to create a preeminent, city-wide postdoctoral training program which supports the development of independent and productive research careers in the field of alcoholic liver and pancreatic diseases; the diseases which plague the Los Angeles county with more than 7,000 patients annually.